30 minutes for a pan of sticky, chewy, Rice Krispie + oatmeal burst of energy and flavor.

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My Daddy's Energy Bars

My Daddy's Energy Bars

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My Dad made these for years and sent them to us for Christmas.

My birdies love 'em, and have been known to eat them for breakfast. It has oatmeal and cereal in it, they declare it to be breakfast-appropriate.

I like it because it can be made in 30 minutes or less, and my birdies can eat them straight from the pan.

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Ingredients

2 cups oatmeal
2 ½ cups Rice Krispies
1 cup raisins

1 block of butter or margarine (½ cup)
1 10oz package of marshmallows
½ cup of smooth peanut butter

What To Do

Mix together oatmeal, Rice Krispies, and raisins in a large bowl and set aside.

In a medium-sized sauce pan or small soup pot, melt butter, peanut butter, and marshmallows until smooth. It will look like it's an oily mess at first, but once the marshmallows melt, it will come together nicely.

When the butter/peanut butter/marshmallow mix is a homogenous liquid, carefully pour into the oatmeal/Rice Krispies/raisins mixture. Mix gently to coat everything. Spread into a 9 x 13 in pan and press evenly.

Cool and cut into bars. Wrapping in wax paper is optional. You can also simply pull a piece out and eat it.

Variations on a Theme

Sometimes (OK, all the time), I just can't leave well enough alone. However, I did find a couple of fun options.

Speculoos Cookie Butter and Dried Granny Smith Apples

I have my baby birdie to thank for introducing us to the goodness of Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter.
Replace raisins with 1 ¼ cup of dried apples, crumbled into corn flake-sized bits.
Replace ½ cup of peanut butter with ½ cup Speculoos Cookie Butter
Cookie butter is less viscous than peanut butter, so the melted mixture will be thicker and dry quickly.
You will need to work fast once you start mixing the oatmeal/Rice Krispies/dried apples.
However, once it is set, it is a bit less sticky than the OG version.

Speculoos Cookie Butter + Dried Apples

Nutella, Sour Cherries, and Pistachios

Nutella, Sour Cherries, and Pistachios

Replace peanut butter with Nutella
Replace raisins with 1 ¼ cup of dried sour cherries
Add 1 cup slightly smashed pistachios
Melt the butter and marshmallows first, then swirl in the Nutella at the end until well mixes. As with the cookie butter version, work a little faster to mix and get it into the pan.
The chocolate/Nutella flavor is light and all the sweetness is a great foil to the sour cherries and pistachios.

Notes and Talking Story

The OG version is still a Christmas family tradition. My niece has taken over over and makes gobs of them for Christmas instead of cookies.
While I prefer wrapping in wax paper as part of old-school charm, the rest of the family tears into them straight from the pan.
The OG recipe also included 1 cup of unsalted peanuts, which we omit, and microwaved the butter/peanut butter/marshmallows for 3 minutes on high, then a quick stir and another 3 minutes to melt completely.
I prefer stove top melting for better control and uniformity. Either way works.